While Congressman Kevin Brady spends some time in his home district, he continues to push for what's called a border adjustment tax -- a tax he says will help Texas companies and U.S. manufacturers compete with foreign companies, but that detractors say will end up hitting consumers in the wallet.

Brady, R-The Woodlands, has represented District 8 for two decades and ascended to chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful positions in Congress. He acknowledged last week to The Courier that his proposed tax plan is running into "pretty stiff resistance."

In fact, the opposition to the tax is so unified that even fellow Republican John Boehner doubts it will get through Congress. Speaking at an energy conference in Houston last month, the former speaker of the House described the tax as "deader than a doornail."

The idea behind the tax, according to Brady and its backers, is that it will level the playing field by allowing Texas and other manufacturers across the nation to compete more effectively against foreign companies.

"We (would) tax all products equally in the United States for the first time in history," Brady told The Courier. "So we end the tax breaks for foreign products over made-in-America products."

But critics, including the chief executive officer of retailing giant Target, Brian Cornell, who has testified in front of Brady's committee against the tax, say it will drive up the cost of goods sold at Target and other retailers.

"Under the new border adjustment tax, American families -- your constituents -- would pay more so that many multinational corporations would pay even less," Cornell told Brady and the committee.

"Eighty-five percent of Americans shop at Target every year. We believe this new tax would hit families hard, raising prices on everyday essentials by 20 percent."

But Brady, acknowledging the opposition from the retail industry, which of course sells products made overseas -- as well as some of his fellow Republicans -- says the BAT would result in jobs and plants being brought back to the United States, while allowing "almost nine out of ten" businesses to lower their prices.

"I'm convinced it will have no impact on consumers but it will draw back U.S. companies that have left," Brady said. "For the long run, we have to have our manufacturing and technology and research facilities back in the United States, rather than Ireland, Germany, Mexico or China."

On a separate matter, Brady's effort to have billions of dollars the U.S. is seeking to seize from a man once considered to be one of the world's most powerful drug lords go toward helping pay for President Trump's proposed border wall hasn't made much headway in Congress.

Brady is co-sponsor of the so-called El Chapo Act, or H.R. 2186, a bill that would take the estimated $14 billion the federal government says Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman, commonly known as "El Chapo," amassed while running an international drug cartel and have it go toward construction of the wall and other border measures.

Describing the proposal as "an awfully clever, innovative way to do border security," Brady acknowledges the bill "hasn't moved much" after being referred for subcommittee hearings early last month.